1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of relaxation and in particular pillows which enable a person to lay face down into a cavity within the pillow, the cavity including air channels to facilitate breathing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The following 10 patents and published patent applications are the closest relevant art to the present invention.
1. U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,797 issued to Timothy A. Shaffer on Oct. 10, 2000 for “Face Down Tanning And Massage Pad” (hereafter the “Shaffer patent”);
2. U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,350 issued to Allen H. Goldstein on May 15, 2001 for “Head Support Pad With Air Access Conduit” (hereafter the “Goldstein patent”);
3. U.S. Pat. No. 6,745,418 issued to David H. Turner, Jr. on Jun. 8, 2004 for “Pillow” (hereafter the “Turner patent”);
4. U.S. Pat. No. 7,195,660 issued to Baird M. Little et al. for “Pillow With Air Filter” (hereafter the “Little patent”);
5. U.S. Pat. No. 7,607,433 issued to Elizabeth Silva et al. for “Gas Delivery And Monitoring System” (hereafter the “Silva patent”);
6. U.S. Pat. No. 7,805,787 issued to Matthew C. Wallis on Oct. 5, 2010 for “Cushion With Scent Cartridge” (hereafter the “Wallis patent”);
7. United States Published Patent Application No. 2012/0142999 to Mirela Alina Albu et al. on Jun. 7, 2012 for “Active Pillow System And A Method For Manipulating A Person's Resting Conditions” (hereafter the “Albu Published patent Application”);
8. Chinese patent No. CN2061408U issued to Biren Wang on Sep. 5, 1990 for “Breezy Cool Pillow” (hereafter the “Wang Chinese patent”);
9. Korean patent No. KR101025713 issued on Mar. 22, 2011 for “A Ventilating Pillow” (hereafter the “Korean patent”);
10. Chinese patent No. CN102551446A issued on Jul. 11, 2012 for “A Pillow is Provided With A Fan” (hereafter the “Chinese patent”).
The Shaffer patent discloses an inflatable face down tanning and massage pad. The patent discloses:                “A support cushion for face down tanning or massage. The cushion is composed of inflatable plastic or rubber material, or solid foam material, and has an elongated recess for accommodating a person's face. Ventilation apertures extend from each side of the cushion and communicates with the recess to provide a constant fresh air supply.”        
Referring to Column 4 beginning on Line 35 through 55 the patent states:                “As can be readily seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the recess 6 is dimensioned and configured to receive and engage the user's face F. A pair of substantially triangular-shaped side walls 20 extend along apposite sides of cushion 2. Ventilation apertures 8 extend from each side wall 20 of the cushion 2 and interconnect with the recess 6 as shown in FIG. 4. Communication between the aperture 8 and the recess 6 provides the user a continuous supply of fresh air, so that normal breathing may be maintained. An end wall 22 and a bottom wall 24 complete the hollow cushion 2.        The cushion 2 is made of plastic or rubber material, which can be inflated and hold pressure. The material is chosen for comfort. The cushion is sized so that it is convenient to carry it from place to place. In addition, when the cushion 2 is deflated, the user P is able easily to store the cushion 2, because the deflated cushion 2 requires only minimum storage space. The inflation mechanism (not shown) can be selected from various types of inflation mechanism well known to one in the art, such as an orally inflatable mechanism.”        
The Goldstein patent is a head support pad with air access conduit.                The patent discloses:        “A support pad or pillow for supporting the head in a face down, prone position, the pad having a face recess providing a breathing void and at least one air flow conduit extending from the face recess through the body of the support pad to the exterior to provide fresh ambient air to the face recess area, where the air flow conduit contains rigid support means to prevent the conduit from being compressed, restricted or closed by the weight of the user's head, and a filter to block particulate matter from entering the air flow conduit.”        
The Turner patent discloses:                “A pillow for supporting the head of user when the user is laying on their stomach. The pillow includes a body member defining an annular bore whereby the body member is substantially toroidal shaped. The body member is designed for supporting the head of the user whereby the annular bore is for receiving a face of the user when the user is laying face down. The body member has a plurality of ventilating bores extending through the body member. Each of the ventilating bores extends into the annular bore whereby the ventilating bores are designed for permitting air to flow to the user when the face of the user is positioned in the annular bore.”        
The Little patent is a Pillow With Air Filter. Referring to Column 2 beginning on Line 60 the patent states:                “FIG. 1 is a perspective view, FIG. 2 is a top view, and FIG. 3 is a front elevation view of the pillow with air filter 100, in accordance with a first exemplary embodiment of the pillow. The pillow with air filter 100, in accordance with the first embodiment, has a U-shape body comprising a back portion 102, a right arm portion 104, and a left arm portion 106. A right chamber 108 runs through the right arm portion 104 with a right intake opening 110 on a bottom exterior surface 112 and a right outflow opening 114 on a top exterior surface 116. Correspondingly, a left chamber 118 runs through the left arm portion 106 with a left intake opening 120 on the bottom exterior surface 112 and a left outflow opening 122 on the top exterior surface 116. Air filters are located in the left chamber 118 and right chamber 108. The air filters receive a flow of air from the intake openings 110 and 120, filter the air within the chambers 108 and 118, and supply cleansed air out of the outflow openings 114 and 122. Exemplary embodiments of the air filters are shown in FIGS. 6 10 and described in greater detail later in the specification.”        
Also, FIG. 6 discloses:                “FIG. 6 is a front, cross-sectional view of the pillow with air filter 100, in accordance with a first exemplary embodiment of the air filter. The left chamber 118 and the right chamber 108 run through the pillow. In each chamber 108, 118 a fan 602 can be positioned to draw air through the chambers 108, 118. Air is drawn in the intake openings 110, 120 of the chambers 108, 118 and blown out of the outflow openings 114, 122. The air filters shown in FIG. 6 are electrostatic precipitator filters 604. Electrostatic precipitator filters 604 can use an ion generator 606 to inject ions into the stream of air. The negatively charged ions cause the foreign particles in the air, i.e. dust, pollen, germs, and smoke particles, to become negatively charged in an ionization process. The air stream passes by positively charged plates 608. The charge plates 608 lay in a plane parallel to the air stream and perpendicular to the view of FIG. 6. The foreign particles, now negatively charged, are pulled towards the charge plates 608 and magnetically attach to the charge plates 608. The cleaned air stream, with foreign particles removed, flows out of the outflow openings 114, 122 of the chambers 108, 118. The outflow openings 114, 122 of the chambers 108, 118 can be positioned on the exterior surface of the pillow in a direction to facilitate the user breathing in the cleaned air. As discussed in the first and second exemplary embodiment, the outflow openings are located on the top surfaces pointing in a direction that directs the air to the front of the nose and mouth of the user. Of course, the outflow openings may be located in a different location on the pillow with air filter 100.”        
Claim 27 which is very broad reads:                “A pillow, comprising: a pillow body with a soft material; a chamber though the pillow body, the chamber having an interior, an intake opening, and an outflow opening; a fan positioned in the interior, the fan drawing air through the intake opening and into the interior and blowing the air out of the outflow opening; and an ion generator positioned in the interior to inject ions into the air.”        
The Silva patent discloses:                “The present invention provides a system for a gas delivery and monitoring system for delivering a gas product to a patient and receiving a gas product exhaled from a patient. In an embodiment, the gas delivery and monitoring system includes a head support made of resilient material and having therein a facial cavity. The facial cavity is configured to fit the contours of a patient's face and provides an oxygen rich environment for the patient while undergoing a medical procedure. In an embodiment, the facial cavity is shaped substantially in the form of a figure eight. In an embodiment, the facial cavity is further provided with one or more segmented edges that can be removed to further shape the facial cavity to the contours of the patient's face. In an embodiment, tubing is used to deliver oxygen from an oxygen source to the patient. Similarly, tubing is also used to receive carbon dioxide exhaled by the patient so that it might be measured by a carbon dioxide monitor. Still further, an aperture extending from the facial cavity to an outer surface of the head support may be provided as a conduit for the gas products. In yet another embodiment, the tubes may be located within the aperture.”        
The Wallis patent discloses a cushion with a scent cartridge. The patent discloses:                “A cushion device comprising a body having an outer surface defining a boundary and at least one cartridge positioned outside the boundary. The cartridge may include a scented substance and a cover for varying the exposure of it to the surroundings.”        
The Albu Published patent application discloses:                “The present invention relates to a an active pillow system and a method for manipulating a person's resting conditions, wherein the actual resting conditions of the person are determined by a sensor unit, an actigraph, a temperature sensor and/or a humidity sensor for instance, and wherein an acoustic synthetic jet cooling mechanism, is triggered by the determined actual resting conditions for manipulating the person's resting conditions.”        
The focus of the patent is best described in Section 0011 which reads as follows:                “[0011] The acoustic synthetic jet cooling mechanism comprises a diaphragm pump and particularly a loudspeaker, for instance. It is a great advantage of the active pillow system that the acoustic synthetic jet cooling mechanism is able to generate a strong airflow on the one hand, but it does not require a fast rotational movement of a rotor on the other hand. Therefore, aerodynamic noise, vibrations, abrasions and grinding noises caused by the moving rotor can be avoided. This is very important as the active pillow system is provided to improve the person's resting or sleeping conditions and must not be a disturbance source for the resting or sleeping person. In particular, if the person's head lies on the pillow typically with a small distance to the air conditioner. In this active pillow system the air conditioner consists of a loudspeaker in a chamber through a special construction in the chamber a by applying certain frequencies an airjet is produced that can be used to cool devices. It is shown that the acoustic synthetic jet cooling method allows miniaturization, it is very reliable because it has only one moving part that is frictionless driven by a magnetic field. This in contrast to other cooling based methods based on water such as pumps or airflow such as fans. The term “resting” in the sense of the present inventions includes relaxing, as well as sleeping, recovering, regeneration and/or rehabilitation of the person. The wording “pillow” can be understood as a head cushion, a mattress, a sofa cushion, a blanket, a seat cover or the like. Preferably, the acoustic synthetic jet cooling mechanism comprises a membrane which is operated by an electromagnetic and/or a piezoelectric driver.”        
The Wang Chinese patent abstract reads as follows:                “The utility model relates to a cool pillow. The existing cool pillows, such as bamboo cool pillows, bine cool pillows, etc. All have the problems of bad ventilation property, slow heat dispersion, etc. As for the utility model, a miniature electric fan is installed under the pillow surface, the pillow surface is also bored with ventilating holes, and the breeze generated by the miniature electric fan can be blown out through the ventilating holes. The utility model has the advantages of good ventilation property and heat dispersion, comfortable and cool rest feelings, etc.”        
The disclosure reads as follows:                “The purpose of the utility model is to provide a good air permeability, the cool pillow of the breeze can be produced.        The solution of the utility model: in cool pillow under surface of a miniature electric fan, vent holes are drilled on the pillow, the miniature electric fan is blown out through the vent, the comfort is produced.        FIG. 1 is the schematic diagram of the structure of the utility model.        FIG. 2 is the A-A sectional view of the utility model.        Combined with the Figure below the utility model relates to the detailed description:        Pillow surface 3 and the beam 8 mounted on two pillow foot 1 is, of the pillow is 3 is drilled with the air hole 2, the pillow surface 3 with a minitype electric fan below, the miniature electric fan motor 4 and the vane 6 composition. Pillow surface 3 is fixed with the inner side of the blade shroud 7, blade shroud 7 covers the blade 6. Pillow foot 7 is also provided with the inner side of the two side plates 5. When in use, 220V commercial power obtained by the DC regulated power supply 12V direct current (or directly using the dry battery obtain 12V direct current) to drive the miniature motor 4, so as to drive the blade 6 rotation, generate breeze. Breeze motor 4 to the incoming line is provided with switch K, so that the person lying down at any time when the power supply is cut off according to requirements.        The utility model has air permeability, good heat dissipation, comfortable pillow feeling, cool, and the like.        